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Lightning and Thunder

4th grade nonfiction passage about weather: 195 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction weather 195 words

Lightning and Thunder

A flash of lightning and a boom of thunder can be scary. But they are two parts of the same event, and knowing how they work makes a storm less mysterious.

Inside a storm cloud, bits of ice and water bump into each other again and again. The bumping builds up a huge amount of electric charge. When the charge gets large enough, it jumps through the air as a giant spark. That spark is lightning.

Lightning is very hot, hotter than the surface of the sun. It heats the air around it in a split second. The air swells outward so fast that it makes a shock wave. We hear the shock wave as thunder.

Light travels much faster than sound, so you see the flash before you hear the boom. You can use this to figure out how far away a storm is. Count the seconds between the flash and the thunder. Every five seconds means about one mile.

If you can hear thunder, lightning can reach you. The safest place is inside a building or a car with the windows up. Wait thirty minutes after the last rumble before going back outside.

Questions

  1. What is lightning? in the text

  2. What makes the sound of thunder? in the text

  3. Why do you see lightning before you hear thunder? in the text

  4. A storm flashes and you count fifteen seconds before the thunder. About how far away is it? think about it

  5. Why does the passage say to wait thirty minutes after the last thunder? think about it

Words to know

electric charge
a kind of energy that builds up and can jump as a spark
shock wave
a strong push of moving air
split second
a tiny part of a second
rumble
a low, rolling sound

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put electric charge, shock wave, split second and rumble on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 4 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Lightning and Thunder"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 195 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.9. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are five. 3 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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